Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 1949)
nninmimifminm Council of Searches for STRASBOURG is an ancient French city, two miles west of the Rhine, that was captured first by: the Romans. Since then it has been fought over many times. Metropolis of the Alsace-Lorraine dis trict, it has changed hands four times since 1870, f A fortnight ago, this historic embattled city became the scene of a new effort to bring unity and peace to Europe. Twelve nations linked in the Council 01 Europe beia their first meeting there. The city and and hi 11th Century cathedral were decked with flags of the member na tions and with the green and whlta banner of the European movement The idea of continental unity is not new. It goes back in one form or an other to the time of Charlemagne. This latest attempt stems from a uni fication conference at London test May arising from a European move ment launched by Winston Churchill two years earlier. The London confer ence created the Council of Europe and picked Strasbourg as its capital. Seek Political Unity The Council of Europe is an at tempt to unite the continent politi cally. Since World War 'IL the Euro pean Recovery Program, backed by American food and dollars, has at tempted to unite western Europe eco nomically. Trie Western Union and the North Atlantic Pact are means to unite those nations on a military basis. The Council is composed of a Com mittee of Ministers and a consultaT tive Assembly. The Committee of Ministers is composed of one delegate, the foreign minister, from each mem ber government. The members are Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxem bourg. Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Nor way, Sweden, Greece and Turkey. Iceland also has been, admitted. Paul-Henri Spaak, former Belgian premier and former president of the United Nations General Assembly, was elected president of the Assem bly. Federation, Pro and Con The Council is not a government Its powers are sharply limited. Dele gates have the power to discuss com mon problems, except defense, but have no authority to act for their na tions. They can only recommend ac tinn. ., Some would like to see the Council develop into a United States of Eu rope. Others, however, do not think Europeans are ready yet to sacrifice sovereignty for unity. Some see the Council evolving into a European parliament which would produce a real continental govern ment with decisive powers. The goal is for some framework to guarantee liberty, peace and security for millions of Europeans. Churchill said: "It is not against any race or nation that we rangeour selves ... it is against tyranny. Western Germany, which last Sun day elected its first government under the Bonn constitution, was proposed for admission at the next meeting of the Council assembly in 1950. Education New Teaching Aid At Pennsylvania State College is a new electronic teaching aid. boon to the overworked teacher with a stack of examination papers to correct. It was perfected after,two years by the Special Devices Center, Office of Naval Research. A class of 40 faces a large movie screen. On each student's desk is a small signaling device with five keys. Students never speak. A screen voice states the problems and asks the questions portrayed on the screen. Students answer by pressing one of the keys. At the end of the class, a student may step up and look at his grade on the examination. Each individual answer was electronically recorded, the score was added and the average computed. . For the teacher, it is like marking 43 examination papers of 50 to 100 questions in one second. The robot also is said to eliminate another teacher worry: cheating. The small black answer box on each desk has an opening large enough to insert one hand, palm down, Angers slightly spread. Under each finger is a key. Cache Engel Short Now ' E'er since Sigmund Engel, 73, of Chicago, was arrested June 25 "on charges of swindling widows whose love he courted, jailers wondered about his apparently bottomless source of ready cash. Cook County, DL, jailers found $35 In Engel's possession last week. Since Jail rules prohioit prisoners' keeping more than $8 the rest was placed to his credit Two days later jailers ( found $134.70 in his possession. Authorities decided on an all-out probe to discover, if possible, Engel's source of supply. The prisoner was stripped and all his clothes were closely examined. Investigators found the seams of ) Engel's underwear a bit bulky. They carefully ripped them open. Out came 74 S100 bills, tightly rolled into a long thin flexible pencil. The prison : physician had to prescribe a sedative ; for Engel and order him removed to ' the jail hospital. At the time of his arrest Engel was j quoted by police as ' saying -women , ha ve given him millions of dollars over a 50-year period, but he stoutly insisted that be bad done nothing? illegal. Europe Unity ote King AbdaUah of Trans-Jordan accepting an invitation to visit Generalissimo Franco, in Spain: "The Soviets show the same enmity toward Franco and me. Both of us are good for our countries." ? Housing Controversial Man The United States has more home owners now than at any time in his tory. They represent 53 per cent of the population while 47 per cent rent their living quar ters. . About one in every seven new dwellings author ized in the last three years has been a rental unit Build ing of single family dwellings has been on the decline so far this year with rental-type units showing an in- TIGHE WOOD'S crease. 9 Almost half a mil lion new homes were started in the first half of 1949, according to es timates of the, National Association of Home Builders, This is about 30,000 less than during the first six months last year. I As federal housing expediter, Tighe E. Woods has been very much in the news recently. As rent control direc tor, he has been a target for both landlords and tenants. To show the private building in dustry what could f be done for the , man with a small income, Woods used his own funds to build a small house for $6,750 at Fort Belvoir, Va, to serve as a model for military hous ing. i i A fortnight ago he told a Senate subcommittee that f James V. Hunt central figure in a probe of Wash ington five percenters, "sort of in ferred he had a hand" in Woods' appointment as housing expediter in December, 1947. Woods was said to have issued a previously denied con struction permit for the Tanforan, Calif., race track four days after a conference with Maj. Gen. Harry H. Vaughan, White i House military aide. A Nw Attack Last week Woods came under a new attack in the Senate. Sen. Harry P. Cain (R-Wash) charged Woods had violated the law by urging direct government loans for his private low cost housing venture. Cain demanded that Woods resign;! saying: ''In my opinion you have, by ac cident or design, used the influence of your high office in an effort to make money as a private citizen. The senator said Woods has violat ed a federal law against government officials or employees lobbying or trying to influence Congress unless called upon to do so. Sen. Cain cited a letter Woods sent to Rep. Brent Spenre (D-Ky), chair man of the House Banking Commit tee, reporting that the Federal Hous ing Administration would not insure a mortgage on the low-cost home without requiring changes in it that would boost the price above $6,750, including the lot i That is why he urged direct gov ernment loans. Woods letter ex plained, to force other lenders into $5,000-to-$fl.OOO houses at reasonable rates of Interest f GREAT OAKS FROM I federation m J v MMMMTS, VVWVSPSj rVaMPf nffWfl ik wmm iu warn B-36: Are U. Si Strategic Ejggs in One Basket? THE Congressional investiga tion of the B-36. America's biggest bomber, is at midpoint -At issue is this country's basic se curity and aerial strategy in the next war, if there should be one. On one side of the controversy is the Air Corps, committed to strategic bombing by long range, land-based planes. On the other is the Navy, de manding super aircraft carriers de signed to service strategic bombers too. Another facet of the dispute, quite apart from service rivalry, is how the B-38 came to be classed as this coun try's sole reliance in the strategic bombing field. There have been charges of irregularity in procure ment of B-36 contracts There were rumors that Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson and Air Secretary Stuart Symington were involved with Consolidated Vultee, manufacturers of the giant B-36 Flamaed Before Fear! Harbw The first order for one experimental B-36 was given to Consolidated Vul tee Corp. in 1941, shortly before Pearl Harbor. In 1943, the order was increased to 100, but later that same year em phasis was shifted to the B-29 after the North African invasion provided bases from which the smaller B-29s could operate. The B-29 Superfortress went on to become the backbone of American air attacks on Japan, cul minated by the atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki The first B-36 was not flown until after the war. In 1946 and 1947 a dis pute raged within Air Force councils over failure of the giant craft to pet form up to its rated capacities. Top-Level Decision In 1948, a board of senior Air Force officers made a top-level decision to keep on with the B-36 because its bugs were being ironed out and there was hope of the big bomber's event ually carrying out its designer's claims. The B-36 is twice as large as the B-29. It has a wingspan of 230 feet and weighs 278,000 pounds. It was designed to fly 350 mph at 40,000 feet, carry 10,000 pounds of bombs to tar gets 5,000 miles away and return. In January of this year, the Air Force cancelled millions of dollars in contracts for other types of planes to order more B-36s. Stopped Werk aa Carriers In April, the first act of Johnson, newly appointed Secretary . of De- Age New Research Project Must elderly people be put on the shelf, their usefulness gone? It's an increasingly important prob. lem as science and health push Amer ican longevity tables higher and higher. The Loyal Order of Moose will set up a new laboratory this fall to find out It will be called the Moosehaven Research Laboratory for Gerontology and Geriatrics at Orange Park, Fla. Gerontology is the scientific study of old age. Geriatrics is the branch of medicine dealing with diseases at tending old age. Dr. Robert W. Kleemeier, assistant professor of psychology at Northwest ern University, will head the labora tory staff. The project is expected eventually to suggest answers to the problems of how to utilize fully the capabilities of elderly persons. The Moooe already are probing at the other end of the age scale. The organization operates a laboratory for child research at Mooseheart, 111. UTTLE ACORNS GROW B-36 -29 B-17 fifi Cbw 40,000 ft. 3S.000 ft. 31,000 ft. 17. MO ft. SMf 10.000 mi. 4.100 im. 1,100 ml 317 tm. H-fpmmm 11,000 Up. S.tOO 1. 4,000 p. 305 Uf. ftb 1m4 10.000 . 3,000 Sm. 3.000 Hm VtuU tmht tnfimt 4 4 1 WiM 130 ft. 141 ft. 103 ft. 3S ft. tMtlt 143 ft. ft. 74 ft. 30 ft. Crw 14 10 1 121 fense, was to halt construction of the Navy's super carrier. That cancella tion sank the Navy's last hope of maintaining a strategic air arm and left the Air Corps and the B-36 alone in the field. In May, Rep James Van Zandt (R-Pa), a Naval Reserve officer, called for an investigation. He pointed out that Johnson had been a director of Consolidated Vultee be fore he entered government service. Van Zandt recounted rumors that Floyd Odium, board chairman of Consolidated Vultee, had contributed heavily to the Democratic presi dential campaign in 1948. Inquiry Ordered Chairman Carl Vinson (D-Ga) of the House Armed Forces Committee ARMED FORCES: Three in One Real Unification Two years ago Congress folded the Army, Navy and Air Force into the National Military Establishment It was the much-heralded unification act but difficulties ex perienced by James V. Forrestal, first Secretary of De fense, showed that service rivalries still persisted. This summer Congress passed an amendment to the National Security Act, revamping and strengthening (at least on paper) the two-year-old unifi GfcN. BRADLEY cation law Last week President Truman set about im plementing the new law. Under it, Louis A. Johnson, Sec retary of Defense, is given more power over the three service branches by subordinating authority of the Secretaries of Army, Navy and Air Force, who no longer are members of the National Security Council. The new law creates a chairman of thetfoint Chiefs of Staff and de fines the departments of Army, Navy and Air Force as "military depart ments within an "executive" depart ment the Department of Defense. Bradley Heads Joint Chiefs TJie President named Gen. Omar N. Bradley as the new chairman of the Martial Better Halves Fat men make the best husbands, and school teachers the best wives. That's the advice of Dr. James F. Bender, director of the National In stitute for Human Relations. Ad dressing the final summer convoca tion of Buffalo State Teachers Col lege, Dr. Bender said: "The fat man is the least likely to want a divorce. He is a tender and faithful lover and he is more easily persuaded to wash dishes and get up at night to look after the baby. "School teachers love children and they make good mothers. . . . Teach ers are well adjusted personalities as a rule and are less inclined to be neurotic than the average American woman.'' Furthermore, Dr. Bender said, after a woman , has been lecturing in class all day, she returns home at night too tired to talk. This, he said, is "sheer heaven?" to most married males. (AXX Sight Rescrrcd. AP tirwsfftitr) - - -r "' ' K " " ' "-V-v- y'' -- - - " - c , ' " r ?1 . Js-y yi-K ? . i v?. - . ,J decided a full inqury of the B-36 was in order. Public hearings opened Au gust 9 in Washington. Air Force spokesmen stoutly de fended the B-36 and its performance. Symington on the stand took per sonal responsibility for the entire B-36 program and denied that poli tics or any consideration "other than national security" had any bearing on its development. These were some of the endorse ments by Air Force leaders. LL Gen. Curtis E LeMay: "The B-36 can fly any mission I can con ceive for if during its lifetime. (If war came) I would ride the first one myself." Gen. George C. Kenney: The air plane sold itself to me after its early weaknesses had been corrected. I Joint Chiefs and the Senate speedily confirmed the appointment. Gen. Joseph L. (Lightning Joe) Collins was appointed to fill Bradley's old post as Army chief of staff. Much depends upon the ability of Bradley to get top brass in all three services to forget their rivalries and work together. Under the law, Brad ley does not have a vote. His power derives principally from his access to the White House (authorized by law in case of deadlocks) and from his own personal prestige. Gen. Bradley seems an excellent choice for such a crucial post. He was field leader of the American forces in the invasion of France and strategists have ranked him as a master tacti cian. Current Strength ' The nation's armed forces currently have a strength of 1,600,000. The Army is the largest with 658,000 officers and enlisted men. Of these, about 250,000 are based outside the continental United States, principally in Germany and Japan. The Navy and Marines have 534,000 while the Air Force is listed at 420, 000 men. The Army, as presently constituted, has about ten and one-half active di visions. The Air Force has 59 skele tonized air groups, which shortly will be reduced to 48. The Navy has about 800 ships in active service. mi urn- . !j PROPAGANDA The Soviet press maintains American children ar underfed. That Is the theme of this cartoon from the maga zine Crocodile: Principal: "If Jack did not prepare his lesson 'make him go without lunch-'. Teachor: "That's hardly an effac tive punishment. He goes without lunch every day anyway." - . ii-v.ni would use it on night missions, send ing out 100 bombers and expecting to get back 100 bombers.' Recess of One Week The Air Corps wound up its case last weekend. Hearings were recessed to permit a subcommittee to go to California to question Gen. Henry A. (Hap) Arnold, retired Air Force chief, as well as some plane manu facturers. Rep. Van Zandt, whose remarks touched off the probe, said he had asked for an explanation but hadn't yet been accorded an answer. He said Chairman Vinson "evidently is en gaged in a whitewash job." On Monday, when the Washington hearings are to be resumed, the Navy will take the stand and tell its side of the story. Dates Monday, August 22 President Truman addresses Veterans of Foreign Wars, Miami, Fla. Tuesday, August 23 Birthday (66th), Gen. Jona than M. Wainwright. Wednesday, August 21 National Student Congress opens, University of Illinois. Friday, August 26 Anniversary (29th), Woman suffrage. Davis Cup Challenge Round (tennis) opens at Forest Hills, N Y. Sunday, August 28 Final National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Re public, opens in Indianapolis. In Short... K ported: Belatedly by Chinese au thorities, that 15,000 persons within a 60-mile radius of Shanghai lost their lives in a typhoon July 25, Killed: 6,000, by the Ecuador earth quakes a fortnight ago, which did $66,000,000 in damage, almost triple the annual budget of the country. Crashed: A commercial transport plane in the Atlantic Ocean off Ire land, killing nine with 49 rescued. I Reds Lose Germany A TOTAL of 24,490,752 westerh Germans went to the polls last Sunday in their first free elections since the Hitler coup in 1933. The Herrenvolk handed Com munism its fourth major defeat in western Europe since the end of the war. Communism had taken a beat ing previously in French, Italian and west Berlin elections. Western Germany rebuff pushes Communism back of the Elbe River where it is propped up by the Red Army. German voters gave the right-wing parties a mandate to direct the new federal republic for the next four years. Conservative Coalition . The conservative Christian Demo crats (Catholic) and the Free Demo crats between ' them won 191 seats of the 402 total in the Bundestag (Parliament). The left wing Social Democrats won 131 seats. The Free Democrats, who favor the enterprise system without reser vation, plan a coalition- with the Christian Democrats for a controlling bloc in- Parliament and formation of a conservative Cabinet. The Social Democrats, who want totiationalize big industries, closely resemble Britain's ruling Labor Party. German Communists trailed the major parties, rolling up only six per cent of the vote and winning only 15 Parliament seats. The first political deal of the new west German state is expected to see Dr. Theodor Heuss, Free Democratic leader, become first president of the republic when Parliament meets at Bonn, the provisional capital, on September 7. Dr Konrad Adenauer, Christian Democratic leader, is ex pected to become the state's first chancellor. ? Dr. Mann Reports Author Thomas Mann, back in the U.S. after his first visit to Germany since Hitler exiled him 16 years ago, expressed concern over German com plaints that they were better off under the Fuehrer than they are today. The Nobel prize-winning novelist gave this first-hand report: "I did not speak to one decent and honest German who was not deeply concerned about the increasing na tionalism in his country. f "Widely responsible for this state of mind is the strange fact that Ger mans do not realize and do not want to realize the causes of their actual conditions. Dr. Mann said he saw no solution to bitter suffering of the German peo ple until there is a final understand ing between east and west Medicine I Polio Prevention One way to double early polio care facilities was recommended last week by a score oi medical and public health authorities It is to cut the iso lation period for early polio rases to one week longer only if fcVer persists. Polio patients are isolated at first sign of the disease to prevent its spread. But medical studies indicate the disease is communicable only dur ing the first three or four days bef&re symptoms appear, and for two or three days afterward. Authorities conclude isolation ! is necessary only for a week or as long as there is fever. Fever rarely lasts more than a week. Some states have been isolating acute polio patients for two weeks, some for three or four. The average has been two weeks. The one-week isolation was decided upon by the National Conference; on Recommended Practices for the Con trol of Poliomyelitis, sponsored by h National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The conference also came put against quarantine in a new polio code being sent to health officials in all states and territories. Quarantine, the group says, is of unproven value and its effects may be bad rather than good. Theaters, circuses, fairs, swimming pools or beaches should not be closed if they are properly operated, the code advises, but attendance of chil dren at such places should be dis couraged. Sidelights I Big Ben, famed London clock atop Parliament, ran late last week. Re pairmen found it was running four minutes slow, attributed it to "swajms of starlings sitting on the hands hold ing them back." f ' In Detroit, an engineer devised a new type brassiere two cups with adhesive around the edges ideal, for suntan dresses. One national adver tisement swamped him with over 160, 000 orders. Postal inspectors came around to investigate complaints from women who sent in money and heard nothing. They learned he bad con tracted with two firms to make th gadgets and had hired 45 girls td fill mail orders. The engineer and I his staff were working night and day and 'still were nearly 60,000 orders behind with more pouring in every day. Inti mating a demand for 500,000 weekly, the engineer is now looking for tome reputable concern to take "this head ache" off his hands. i -HI A ' J . ACQ Uv v 1 - . -11 n i n i i i ffclJa